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"Autopsie de l'afro-optimisme 2.0"

Published19 Aug 2015

Tags Afro-optimismo economia desenvolvimento

Imagem: © Sylvain Cherkaoui pour J.A.

A ideia de que África está em desenvolvimento e de que será a nova Ásia Mundial, o afro-optimismo, é o tema de um artigo publicado no site Jeune Afrique por Yann Gwet, ensaista camaronês, que introduz os conceitos de" afro-optimisme 1.0" e "afro-optimisme 2.0", analisando o fenómeno em termos económicos e sociológicos.

Le recours aux chiffres est pratique car il donne une apparence d’objectivité à un débat essentiellement idéologique. Avant la crise financière de 2007, le consensus était que les pays africains avaient des difficultés, mais aussi un potentiel important. Ce potentiel entretenait un optimisme légitime mais prudent. C’était l’afro-optimisme 1.0.

L’afro-optimisme 1.0 est mort, vive l’optimisme 2.0 !

La crise de 2007 a mis à mal ce consensus. Les économies occidentales et asiatiques étaient en panne, les investisseurs internationaux en quête de « relais de croissance ». Tout d’un coup les pays du continent devenaient attractifs. La réécriture du script s’imposait. C’était l’avènement de l’afro-optimisme 2.0.

L’afro-optimisme 1.0 était un état d’esprit. L’afro-optimisme 2.0 est une doctrine. Celle-ci énonce que la réalité peut être créée. L’afro-optimiste 1.0 voyait le verre à moitié plein. L’afro-optimiste 2.0 décide que le verre est plein.

Avec le temps, l’afro-optimisme 2.0 est devenu un produit commercial. Ses fournisseurs ? Des institutions internationales, des médias influents, des groupes d’intérêts divers. Ses clients ? Les couches éduquées d’une diaspora désireuse de voir le continent émerger, des multinationales assoiffées de croissance et des dirigeants africains heureux de se prévaloir de progrès parfois fictifs.

O texto completo em Autopsie de l’afro-optimisme 2.0

O impacto da economia chinesa em África

Published16 Mar 2015

Tags economia china África

Composition of outward Chinese FDI stock in Africa (2009). Source: Chinese Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, 2010

De que forma o desenvolvimento da economia chinesa afecta o continente africano? Qual é a estratégia de África em relação à China? Como funcionam as economias locais num mundo global? Martyn Davis, consultor e especialista em mercados emergentes de fronteira, publica no site do World Economic Forum um artigo desenvolvido sobre estas questões.

The African continent continues to struggle to develop its domestic economies through beneficiation and, by and large, sub-Saharan African countries remain dependent on raw material extractive industries, often being single-commodity dependent. Ironically, the China-driven commodities “super cycle” over the past decade or so may have reinforced the resource dependence of African states.

Despite this, China’s resource-intensive growth model has helped African growth – underpinning the “Africa rising” narrative that has emerged in recent years.

Furthermore, in 2008 Beijing’s financial authorities used a sizeable stimulus of approximately $570 billion to pump-prime economic growth. This was in response to rapidly slowing global growth following the financial crisis, and it had a very positive knock-on effect on Africa’s growth trajectory. Ironically, China’s actions reinforced Africa’s commodity dependence, with strong commodity prices providing a deterrent – or at the very least a distraction – for African policy-makers to accelerate their efforts towards diversification.

But changes now impacting the Chinese domestic economy hold out a new promise for aspirational African economies. The rising cost pressures on China’s light industrial manufacturing sector will increasingly lead to manufacturing capacity to relocate to lower-cost foreign economies over the long term. This trend of Chinese “hollowing out” of low-end manufacturing and offshoring to Africa is likely to be the next driving force of the relationship. This forms part of what is often referred to as China’s “economic rebalancing”. If this opportunity is seized by progressively reformist African states, they could well be on the cusp of a 19th-century style industrial revolution – generating jobs and creating new industries.

O artigo completo em What China’s economic shift means for Africa

Curso de Verão "América Latina Hoje"

Curso de Verão América Latina Hoje
Data : De 05 de Setembro até 09 de Setembro
Local : ISCTE-IUL

O curso de Verão “América Latina Hoje”, que vai na sua quarta edição, proporciona uma formação intensiva sobre a actualidade política, social, cultural e económica latino-americana.
Migrações,cidades, fenómenos religiosos, literatura, cinema, direitos humanos, elites políticas e relações internacionais são alguns dos temas contemplados no programa.

Destacam-se, nesta edição, os temas da economia informal e do mercado de trabalho para jovens, pontos de análise para a própria sociedade portuguesa, tendo em vista os desafios que actualmente enfrentamos.

Estarão, assim, abertas ao público a mesa redonda sobre “Economia Informal na América Latina”, com a participação de Julio González (London School of Economics), Miguel Carrera Troyano (Universidade de Salamanca) e Mário Olivares (ISEG-UTL), e a conferência de encerramento “Desafios no Mercado de trabalho para os jovens latino-americanos”, por Laura Ripani, do Banco Inter-Americano de Desenvolvimento (BID).

Programa completo e inscrições em www.cies.iscte.pt
(até 1 de Setembro)

Mais informações:
217903956 | [email protected]

Local: ISCTE-IUL
Av. das Forças Armadas

Organização: Casa da América Latina | Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CIES-IUL) | Instituto de Iberoamérica da Universidade de Salamanca
Apoio: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Junta de Castilla y León

 

"Two books argue that the future is brighter than we think"

Published6 Mar 2012

Tags economia

The lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a small device with a huge potential. It can run dozens of diagnostic tests on human DNA in a few minutes. Give the device a gob of spit or a drop of blood and it will tell you whether or not you are sick without any need to send your DNA to a laboratory. In poor countries LOCs could offer diagnostics to millions who lack access to expensive laboratories. In the rich world they may curb rising medical costs.

The world has been so dogged by bad news of late that it is almost possible to forget about tiny miracles like the LOC. But two timely new books remind us that boffins continue to make the world a better place even as politicians strive to do the opposite. Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler make a breezy case for optimism in “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think”. Eric Topol provides a more considered look at why medicine is about to be “Schumpeterised” (his word) by digital technology. These books are a godsend for those who suffer from Armageddon fatigue. They also remind us that technology keeps improving despite economic gloom.

Continuar a ler no The Economist.<

O impressionante crescimento de África

Published7 Jan 2011

Tags África economia

Africa is now one of the world’s fastest-growing regions

MUCH has been written about the rise of the BRICs and Asia’s impressive economic performance. But an analysis by The Economist finds that over the ten years to 2010, six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa. On IMF forecasts Africa will grab seven of the top ten places over the next five years (our ranking excludes countries with a population of less than 10m as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, which could both rebound strongly in the years ahead). Over the past decade the simple unweighted average of countries’ growth rates was virtually identical in Africa and Asia. Over the next five years Africa is likely to take the lead. In other words, the average African economy will outpace its Asian counterpart.